Casting corruption into the dungeon

Are we really helpless in the light of the new heights attained by corruption in Nigeria? With the systemic and systematic nature of corruption, it is very easy to lose track of the individuals and agencies that are responsible for taking steps to rein in the monster called corruption. Bribes and inducements are offered daily in every facet of Nigeria, be it political, economic and our social lives.

Despite this, we still have a lot of honest and hardworking men and women, who are ready to shun corruption and its allures. But the challenge is that we have allowed the dregs of our society to take control of governance and the levers of power.

Politics today in Nigeria is one of the easiest ways to engage in corruption, as it is no longer for the clean and honest people because it is going to be a dirty game and only the dirty ones who are ready to wade through the mud are allowed to play it. Politicians are those who should bear responsibilities for curbing corruption, but they are the ones who are neck-deep in corruption.

There are, however, steps that can be taken to reduce corruption. The word “reduce” is used deliberately instead of the word “eradicate”. This is because it is good to agree that we cannot totally eradicate corruption, but to reduce its prevalence as a determining factor for the successful conclusion of transactions in our national life.

There are some steps that can be taken by the authorities and anti-corruption agencies that can tackle the challenge of corruption at all levels. There are some cases of corruption which can be looked into by authorities and anti-corruption agencies.

Virtually in all states of the federation and at the federal level, there are ghost workers numbering thousands, which have been discovered. These ghost workers are paid salaries for years and in some instances, some even had illustrious careers, received service awards, collected gratuity and continued to collect pension until they were discovered. If we are to take a look at these ghost workers, they are the creation of high ranking public officers. You can imagine the thousands of ghost workers, pensioners collecting billions of naira every month. After the biometric exercise that discovered this outright theft, no one is punished; no one is made to account for the fraud and business continues as usual.

This sends a clear message to intending criminals that fraud is profitable and punishment does not follow a crime. Thus, the perpetrators are simply requested to find another bleeding point which will take time to discover, since the authorities have just blocked one point.

The Financial Regulations at the federal and state levels create the position of Accounting Officers with clear duties of being the permanent Secretary and he/she is in charge of ensuring that proper budgetary and accounting systems are established and maintained to enhance internal controls, accountability and transparency and also responsible for the safeguarding of public funds.

With the detailed responsibility of the Accounting Officer, the authorities know who to hold responsible for the emergence of ‘ghost’ workers. Even if the accounting officer is not directly responsible for the fraud, his negligence towards not knowing those who are in charge of compiling the names of the staff to be paid will be punished.

Therefore, if the Accounting Officer is really made to account, he will be compelled to come clean by either confessing to the crime of identifying those who have participated in the crime and such a person or group should be dismissed from service.

If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) are serious about their work, they should be able to confiscate all the stupendous wealth and properties of those who are responsible for embezzling public funds

However, the future of Nigeria lies in the hand of Nigerians, because the ball is always in our court every four years, when we have the opportunity to elect new leaders. Very soon, we will be asked to vote in elections and the outcome will either reduce or increase corruption. Nigerians are not helpless in the face of the grand heights of corruption; we can become proactive through anti-corruption and impunity campaigns.

Another way of reducing corruption is by ensuring that public officers publicly declare their assets and those who refuse to make same available to us should be blacklisted. We should also ensure that the law backs our demands of security welfare and the law should not only back the demands of the wealthy ones, but the law should back the demands of an average Nigerian on the street, in order to reduce social inequality and promote transparency, equality fairness among all Nigerian.